High-performance computer moves in

By Ivan Muzychka

Thanks to Digital Equipment Canada, Memorial's Department of Computing
and Communications now houses an advanced state-of-the-art, high performance
computer. The computer, an AlphaServer 4100, will greatly enhance Memorial's
high-performance computing (HPC) capability. It will also add to the existing
networking capabilities, and will be used in ongoing research projects.
Digital Equipment is lending Memorial the AlphaServer 4100 for one year.
In return, Memorial will make the computer available to other institutions
that are members of the high performance computing network called HPC Net.

HPC Net is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council,
and is meant to help scientists with HPC computer access. Currently there
are only about a dozen participating institutions in the network; member
institutions must have significant expertise in HPC.

Many players

The Digital deal came as a result of the efforts of Dr. Kevin Keough,
vice-president (research), Drs. Mark Whitmore and John Whitehead of Physics
and Physical Oceanography, Dr. Jim Stacey of the Atlantic Canada Organization
for Research Networking (ACORN), and Glen Bontje and Darryl Creaser of
Digital. Dr. Alan Law, dean of the Faculty of Science, and Wilf Bussey,
director of Computing and Communications, were also instrumental in making
the arrangements.

Greater ability

"This tool will allow us to explore areas where we were previously
bound by our limitations in large-scale computing power," Dr. Keough
said. "In addition to advancements in various disciplines, Digital's
donation will help Memorial integrate its research efforts with developments
taking place on the information technology sector, especially in high-speed
networking." According to Dr. Law, the computer will raise the university's
computing profile. "This brings Memorial to the forefront in high-performance
computing in Canada -- in fact, in North America," Dr. Law, said.
"We are going to be an important node in the HPC Net in terms of hardware."

Powerful tool

The new computer has a whopping four gigabytes of Random Access Memory
(RAM), about 50 times the amount available on high-end desktop computers.
A large amount of Random Access Memory (RAM) is required for certain applications,
seismological imaging for example, where huge amounts of data are manipulated.

"One of the features of this computer is that its memory allows
for large scale applications," Dr. Whitmore explained. "This
is one of the things Digital is looking for; they want to have the computer
used in seismology applications, and for modelling, so others can see its
potential."

"I am absolutely thrilled," Dr. Whitehead said. "Most
of the work I am doing involves simulations of magnetic systems and the
calculations we do tend to be computer intensive. The scope of our calculation
is limited by how much computing power is available. Up to now we were
using a computer in the HPC centre in Calgary which has been switched off
and we have been unable to get access to an alternate machine."

Digital will use the computer at Memorial as a way of marketing the
machine to other institutions. Since Memorial is the only university to
have an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networked campus, and has a connection
to the National Test Network through ACORN, placing the computer here for
demonstration purposes was ideal.

"Our campus network, MUNet, is already operating with ATM speed
and the new machine will have an ATM connection, which means faster access
to the national network," Mr. Bussey said.